This invention relates to card or badge readers on which there are coded indicia such as a bar code. The invention is more particularly directed to a swipe-type badge reader with an adjustable wear plate for reading badges in which a bar code symbol or other optical code device is situated at a predetermined distance from one edge of the badge.
There has been an increased popularity of bar-coded badges, both for security access systems and for time and attendance purpose. In reading bar-coded identification badges, the bar-coded area on the badge should be positioned to move reliably past the bar code reader in the reading device. However, from one business to another or from one company division to another, there can be variations in the sizes of the badges and in the placements of the bar code symbol.
In a swipe-type card or badge reader, the user draws his or her badge through a badge-reader slot in the device, with the badge being oriented so that the bar code symbol faces the bar code scanner in the device the badge passes through. The floor of the slot is defined by a wear plate against which the edge of the badge slides. The wear plate defines a predetermined height from the floor of the badge reader slot to an optical center line of the bar code scanner. Of course, for optimal operation, this height should correspond to the distance from the edge of the badge to the center line of the bar code symbol on the badge. However, as aforesaid, not all bar-coded badges are of the same design, and the distance of the bar code symbol from the edge of the badge can vary. Difference in this distance from one card to another is often intentional, so that a badge from one organization or division will not be readable on a badge reader in another organization or division.
Variable slot readers have been proposed as magnetic or optical check readers for reading codes on checks or bank drafts. One such device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,902. In this device a thumb wheel is turned to move an optical reading aperture up or down relative to the base of a slot (i.e., relative to the edge of the document). The document position remains constant so that the distance from the edge to a magnetic stripe reader is fixed. This type of device requires individual adjustment for each optically-coded check or other document, but would not be appropriate for a bar code badge reader where large numbers of employee badges are to be read in short intervals of time.
It has also been proposed to standardize bar-coded badge characteristics, especially the distance form the edge of the badge to the bar code symbol. However, this would eliminate the flexibility of having bar code badge readers set up to read only some badges from a particular organization, but not others, as mentioned earlier.